14 DAY TRIAL // All eyes were on HTC yesterday, as the company announced the premium HTC U Ultra and the mid-ranger HTC U Play. However, we’ve been hearing rumors of more new HTC devices to be announced soon, although we hoped that they would be unveiled during the BrilliantU event.
HTC’s U Ultra and U Play caught everyone’s attention with their “liquid” glass design and slew of useful features, but HTC won’t stop here. Chialin Chang, President of HTC's Smartphone and Connected Devices Business, has told Engadget that HTC intends to unveil six to seven smartphones this year. HTC’s Android-running U Ultra and U Play are included in this number, which means that there are still 4 to 5 phones to be announced.
It seems that HTC has changed its strategy for this year, considering that the company announced eleven to twelve phones last year. HTC intends to focus more on core features in order to deliver better products to the market and become more competitive against other brands.
HTC will release a few Desire phones this year
The official confirmed that HTC intends to release a few Desire smartphones this year for the "fun and affordable" markets. The company must also announce the new One X10, and some reports have surfaced about an HTC Vive phone.
Therefore, the question regarding its flagship for this year comes to mind. The exec has stated that HTC is indeed working on a successor to the HTC 10, but that it won’t be called the HTC 11. To be able to compete against other upcoming phones, HTC’s true flagship should come with Qualcomm’s latest chipset, the Snapdragon 835.
HTC’s U series focuses heavily on personalization with its Sense Companion AI and USonic audio features that manage to address the needs of the user and provide customized features based on their unique particularities.
The exec believes that Sense Companion is the phones’ main selling point and says the virtual AI is a combination between Google’s Awareness API, device information, and third-party data. He mentioned that Sense Companion would receive many features via updates in 2017, adding that "we're not trying to emphasize A.I.; we're trying to emphasize companionship."